So I'm enduring the bloody mess that is terminal 5 at Heathrow at themoment. It's a mess because, like all UK airports, actually travelingis the last thing this place was designed for. Instead it's awash withhigh end shops and eateries where you can't get anything as basic as abacon sandwich. I could have a tuna nicoise with elegant salad flowersand rustic artisan bread if wanted, and if I had £10 to spare. Or Icould spend £2 for a bottle of coke, or £6 for a fancy coffee. Butbasic food is nowhere to be found. Even the pre-packed sandwiches arefruit to sound clever. It's ham and bloody cheese, not mediterraneanthis and authentic southern that on a wholemeal fair trade somethingor other.Also as with all UK airports, the passengers are treated likechildren. They refuse to post the gate numbers until half an hourbefore the flight leaves. The airports think that forcing everyone tosit in a cramped shithole will make them go and use the shops.Instead it results in pissed off frequent fliers and a scrum when theflight is called as 400 people all try to get to the gate at once.Wouldn't be a problem in an airport but when all those people have tododge and weave through expensive shops to get go the gate, things geta bit dicey. The other effect of course is that there are constantannouncements for people about to miss their flights. Because insteadof treating us like adults and printing the gate number on theboarding pass, we're all forced to sit watching TV monitors.We've been here for 20 minutes now and I honestly have no idea wherethe planes are. I mean they must be here somewhere, behind the YSLstore, tucked next to Harrods or something.Either way, for a frequent traveller, this place sucks donkey balls.Just like every other UK airport. I'd hoped they would have figuredout how airports work when they built T5 but sadly not.

Things are bad. Really bad. The country roads are plagued with driverswho are terrified of going faster than 45mph. The motorways areclogged with police vans and average speed cameras forcing everyone todo 50mph. Even the motorcyclists seem to have lost their balls; I hada group of them pull out in front of me at Box Hill this afternoon."No problem - they'll get away quickly" I thought. But no. Theyaccelerated at bloody walking pace. The police state has destroyeddriving for everyone over here. Then there's the cost of fuel. Filledthe rental car today and it cost me $132 for 15 gallons! How canpeople afford to drive?New police and council powers mean that councils can go through yourrubbish and fine you if you put the wrong thing in the wrong bin. Theycan spy on you without warrants and CCTV cameras have tripled orquadrupled in number in the last few years, but crime has skyrocketedso they're still doing no good. Short term loan rates are running at1470% APR (that isn't a typo) and bank interest rates are at 0.25%.Gas and electric prices have gone up 50% in the last year and they'reforecast to go up another 20-30% this year. Thieves are stealinglightning rods for copper and lead from church roofs.The government makes ours back in America look like a super talentedcollection of geniuses. The papers and the public are more infatuatedwith celebrity gossip than the Americans.Public transport is on it's knees. Police forces are being slashedacross the country and the national health service is bankrupt withrecord waiting times for even the most basic medical procedures now.I'm so glad we left. England is broken and I don't think the peoplewho live there can see it. The pot has boiled and the frog is well andtruly dead. I worry for our friends and family left in the UK but I'mnot sure how I can help :-(